Undertaker Wrestlemania – The Streak (in figures)

The Streak in figure form

No wrestler has been as synonymous with Wrestlemania as The Undertaker. He’d been the unbeatable attraction for 21 Wrestlemanias. The Streak took a life of its own to the point fans just expected him to win making last year’s shocking defeat at the hands of Brock Lesnar all the more unbelievable.

With the release of this year’s Wrestlemania Heritage figure and Wrestlemania this Sunday, I figured now was a great time to do a project I’ve been toying with (no pun intended) for years — capturing ‘The Streak’ in figure form. Since acquiring the WWE license, Mattel has made arguably the best wrestling figure to date. This would have been far too frustrating trying to accomplish this with the Jakks figures.

Annoyingly for this trip down memory lane there’s still a few gaps — let’s get that 98 era Undertaker already! — so in a few cases, I had to improvise so be prepared to suspend a little disbelief along the way. Another note: I had no idea I’d collected so many Undertaker figures and still need a few more to replace some stand-ins. I’ll likely reshoot this after Mattel completes the Streak opponents. For now, time to revisit the streak. Hope you enjoy!

While the nearly 17,000 in attendance were hoping to watch history as Hulk Hogan was gunning for a then unprecedented third WWF heavyweight title victory (nowadays guys have their third title reign within a year), a more enduring record was getting underway as Paul Bearer’s nightmarish charge was competing in his first Wrestlemania against a future Hall of Famer.

Although ‘Superfly’ was on the down end of his WWF career, fans were stunned to see this icon, this legend, this co-star of Hulk Hogan’s Rock-n-Wrestling get vanquished so easily by The Undertaker. This wouldn’t be the first Hall of Famer to fall to The Streak as Undertaker has defeated six current inductees and a clear five once they retire. Match Time – 4:20

In just over six minutes, a massive 62,167 watched on as The Undertaker decisively put down his former ally after a Tombstone outside the ring.

This time, the fans were on the side of ‘The Dead Man,’ an allegiance they’d maintain through the majority of The Streak. The Undertaker’s quickly taking out another future Hall of Famer made fans appreciate the special talent they were witnessing. Match Time – 6:36

At 6’10” The Undertaker rarely finds himself in the ring against an opponent he has to look up to, but that was exactly the challenge he was facing when he locked up with the towering 7’7″ Giant Gonzalez. Undertaker was seeking revenge after the giant’s surprise debut led to Undertaker’s elimination from the 1993 Royal Rumble.

With payback firmly on his mind, Undertaker knew this would be one contest where his vaunted Tombstone Piledriver would not be a factor. During their highly-anticipated Wrestlemania encounter, Giant Gonzalez realized he couldn’t hold back Undertaker’s fury and resorted to using chloroform to try and knock The Dead Man out, but he was only disqualified for his efforts setting up their final match at Summerslam. Match Time – 7:33

After missing Wrestlemania 10, The Undertaker returned to once and for all settle the score with Ted DiBiase’s Corporation, which had stolen his urn – the source of his powers (it was a different time back in 95). DiBiase sent his biggest weapon, the massive King Kong Bundy to hold back The Undertaker.

Few took much note of The Streak at this time as The Undertaker wasn’t exactly fighting the promotion’s top guys to keep it going, instead battling the monsters and aging former stars. Bundy, who main-evented Wrestlemania 2 proved no different although once again, Undertaker was facing an opponent he couldn’t put in the Tombstone. Bundy finally got dropped in front of 16,305 with a series of clothesline as Undertaker moved continued his perfect record of Wrestlemania matches. Match Time – 6:36